I was east, and dealer, white vs red:
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♣ | 1♦ | ||
| X | p | 2♣ | p |
| 2♠ | p | 2NT | p |
| 3NT | p | p | X |
| p | p | p |
The king of diamonds was led, and I saw this:
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Once I lose the ace of spades, I have 8 tricks - 4 spades, 3 hearts and a diamond. I can pick up a 9th if hearts are 3-3, if south breaks clubs for me, or if dummy's diamond spots can be promoted. (One thing I didn't really look at at the table was promoting a club, but the defense is likely to get a spade, a diamond, and at least 3 clubs - maybe more if they don't break well).
I played a low diamond from the board, and north discarded the 8. One of the best things that can happen, I think, is if north has the T or Tx of diamonds. Well, scratch the singleton ten, but the lead is where I want it, so I duck the opening round.
Now, a continuation in either minor (assuming south has the Queen of diamond) gives me the contract. South wisely switched to the heart 6, which I won in hand, to preserve entries to the spades.
First thing I needed to do was deal with spades. South ducked the king but played the ace over the 9, saving me a decision as to whether or not to overtake. Back came another heart, north following.
Time to think.
Both opponents have shown up with 2 hearts and 2 spades. I've given them a chance to give me the 9th trick, and it hasn't happened yet. South seems to have the ace of clubs, based on his continued resistance to leading dummy's void in notrump.
It all seems to be coming down to the heart split, but I can't see how it could hurt to run out spades first. Maybe defense will make a discarding error.
Both opponents follow on the first spade (NOT the suit I needed to be 3-3). North threw the Queen of clubs on the second, South discarding a low diamond. (Poor North must be really dying for a club lead by now.) The last spade takes my 3rd club discard, along with 2 more diamonds. Alas, north did NOT throw the 10 (it was the 6).
No help there.
In hindsight, I think the contract was now cold (assuming I played it properly). At the table, I wasn't certain, but I definitely saw a rough outline of an extra chance.
The key play came next, as I unblocked diamonds by cashing the Ace. South threw the 10 - I hadn't stopped to count, but I did now and it seemed right. Now, I led the 5 of hearts.
Alas, south played the 5 of clubs. No heart split.
I took the queen of hearts, and exited a diamond to south's queen. South was left with the A8 of clubs, and had to give me the king of clubs for my 9th trick.
Looking it over, south had to discard a club on one of my spades. In this way, he could have kept a threat against my J9 of diamonds. (GiB double dummy analysis agrees.)
The two things that I really enjoyed about this hand were how well I kept count, and how I kept giving myself chances to make.
Of course, having gotten this far, I should point out that I played the whole hand wrong, right from the start. Given the indicated lie of the cards, the hand was stone cold, and I blew it.
The correct play is to take the first trick with the ace of diamonds, and immediately play a low diamond towards the jack. So long as south has the queen (and 5 diamonds, I guess), this will always take 9 tricks.
Here's the full deal:
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So there you have it - some decent counting and card awareness, missed with blissful ignorance. THAT is where my bridge game is right now.
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